Welcome Back
by M.B. Wade
Summary: Lexa has left for good and Emma turns up in town. Brennan is more than excited about Emma’ s return from the “dead.” Brennan and Shalimar break up. Mostly EB and maybe a little JS.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Mutant X at all, for if I did Emma would have never been written off.  
  
A/N: I have never written Fan Fiction before so bare with me.  
  
Summary: Lexa has left for good and Emma turns up in town. Brennan is more than excited about Emma' s return from the "dead." Brennan and Shalimar break up. Mostly E/B and maybe a little J/S.  
  
"Two cappuccinos and a blueberry muffin," ordered a couple, then giggling that they said it at the same time.  
  
The young brunette, she had let her hair go back to its natural color, waiting on them smiled, "Coming right up." She turned to go put the order in. It felt a relief to her to smile, she hadn't smiled in a while. Of course there wasn't anything to provoke anything but a frown.  
  
The next table she came to sat a lone man. She was familiar with him. They had once worked together, until the accident. He was very caring, she had kept an eye on him and the others she had once been on a team with, he had cared too much for one woman the last couple of months, and now she was gone. From what she had gathered the woman's name was Lexa. 'Poor Jesse,' she thought.  
  
The brunette took off her apron and yelled at her manger telling him she was taking her brake. With one final look at Jesse she shook her head, 'Get a hold of yourself, Emma. Going back would be a mistake.' 


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own Mutant X at all, for if I did Emma would have never been written off.  
  
Summary: Lexa has left for good and Emma turns up in town. Brennan is more than excited about Emma' s return from the "dead." Brennan and Shalimar break up. Mostly E/B and maybe a little J/S.  
  
A/N:. Yeah the last chapter was a little short I must admit but it was just sort of the introduction. Thank you all who read and reviewed this story.  
  
Jesse ran a hand through his light hair. He missed the team being, well . . . a team. Brennan and Shalimar were always together and seldom needed his company. Lexa had left, leaving word she was never coming back. He missed her. 'You barely knew her,' he told himself. He took a sip of his coffee, trying to sober his mind from becoming a depressed state. Jesse was getting used to losing people. He'd lost Adam, almost like his father in many ways. He'd given Jesse shelter, food, and a warm family consisting of himself and Shalimar and Jesse. But after the accident they couldn't find him, they still can't. And what about Emma. "She was something," he whispered to himself before taking another sip. He smiled, "She always made me have fun." He missed those eyes he could get lost in, but his feelings for her had long since settled . . . at least a little. He wanted to laugh with her again, to see that smile, but she was dead.  
  
Shalimar looked at the man laying beside her. She smiled glancing at his dark hair and lean , and muscular body, he was hers. She closed her eyes to finally go into a slumber, well he was almost all hers. He had done it again. He had called out her name while he slept. 'Brennan loves me,' she thought, 'Doesn't he?' questions rushed through her mind about their relationship. 'Had this whole relationship been a lie. Not a lie, but a replacement for his with someone else?'  
  
The sheets rustled beside her. "Shal?," said Brennan as he stroked her arm and then gently kissed her shoulder, "Is something wrong?"  
  
She turned back around to face him. "I don't think we have a real relationship, Bren. I mean, yeah we are together and have had sex but, we aren't real."  
  
"I don't understand?"  
  
"We are only together, I think, because we needed someone to lean on. Because of Adam and Emma." She saw him wince at her name.  
  
"That's what you think?"  
  
She nodded.  
  
"Then, okay," he stood up and started getting dressed.  
  
"What are you doing?"  
  
"Leaving."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"There's no reason to stay, because we're not together anymore."  
  
"I didn't say that."  
  
"No, I did." He left her room. Shalimar followed him only clothed in a silk robe.  
  
"Where are you going?"  
  
"Out. Tell Jess I'm bringing home food."  
  
He sat at the bar with a beer in his hand. Brennan wasn't too unhappy with the break up. As a matter of fact it seemed to be sort of a relief, not that Shalimar was a burden, but he felt guilty. He didn't know what for. Maybe it was because he remembered having dreams of other women while lying next to her. Or maybe it was he wasn't ready for commitment to one person right now. Or maybe . . . oh, he didn't know what it was that made him that way he just was.  
  
Jesse heard one of the waitresses yell she was taking a break. That voice. It was so familiar. He looked just in time to she the woman's profile before she left for the ladies' room. He followed her until he reached the door with the emblem informing him it was the ladies' room. Looking around he made sure no one was looking he phased through the wall staying there just a second to prove he had seen her.  
  
He walked through the sanctuary looking for his teammates. When he was in the dojo Jesse saw Shalimar working out. "Hey," he announced his presence.  
  
"Back at ya."  
  
"Where's Brennan?"  
  
"Dunno, but he said he bringing back food." She was still going at it.  
  
"What's the matter Shal, what happened?"  
  
Stopping she came up too him and they sat down together.  
  
"Oh."  
  
"That's about sums it up."  
  
"I'm sorry."  
  
"Why? We both knew nothing ever last. Something is always going to ruin something else. Accidents, illness, death."  
  
* The chapter was a little longer this time. Yay me. So you who are actually reading this puh-lease review. I thrive on them. 


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I'm gonna stop writing this on account if you didn't know I don't on this show then you are such a . . . well you get the point.  
  
Summary: Tell you the truth I don't really don't think you need to know the summary after reading two chapters that included it.  
  
A/N: Reviewers I love you! If I remember correctly in the second season finale wasn't Shalimar's dad's lab built over a river or body of water of some sort? And notice that dead is in quotation marks in the summary.  
  
Emma had sensed his presence. Jesse had seen her. She wondered if he had told anybody yet. Sooner or later she'd have to see them, reveal the fact she was not dead. she wondered also if Adam had spoken to them or contacted them in anyway. Probably not, he had told her he was going into hiding and that she should do the same. At the time she didn't understand but she did now it was all pretty much clear. She had information about his whereabouts and Eckhart and his goons wanted that information, they wanted Adam.  
  
He had told her Eckhart would be looking for him while leading her to a safe house on a night just like this one.  
  
She remembered that night. Closing her eyes she relived it again.  
  
"Emma, Emma," Adam was trying to wake her up. She had been unconscious for nearly two hours. Her dyed red hair was wet and dirty, as well as her pale skin. She shivered after being pulled out of the water. He kept trying to wake her up, she wasn't dead, just wasn't breathing.  
  
Her eyes slowly fluttered open to the cool night air. The stars were veiled by dark rain cloud and the only remnant of the moon was a sort of fuzzy outline of yellow light. She saw Adam's smile despite the darkness around them. "Welcome back to the land of the living," Adam joked.  
  
"What!?"  
  
"You were only dead for a second."  
  
Her eyes widened as big as saucers.  
  
"Emma, relaxed, you just stopped breathing for a little bit. You'll be fine, I promise."  
  
She looked around at where she was. They were on a bank of the river. The grass was blowing in the wind and the pebbles beneath her started to feel uncomfortable as she shivered in the cool night air. "Where are we?"  
  
"On the river. I know a safe house near here. Once we get there you can rest again."  
  
She nodded. He put he limp arm around his neck and placed his only free arm about her narrow waist.  
  
They trudged through mud and along a road until finally finding the safe house. Emma couldn't remember most of it, she kept fading in and out of consciousness. Adam kept waking her as he slipped or had to pull her up so she wouldn't fall to the ground. She knew he was trying to help her and she was trying not to burden him with her load.  
  
Next thing she knew she was awakening in a plain white room. Everything in the room was white or metal. It was like an asylum almost. Her muddy and torn clothes were washed and laid across a metal chair. The only clothes she wore were a short white hospital gown. She looked around again to she a window in the far left corner. She fumble out of the bed, her bare feet touching the cold floor and her arms crossing her chest. Walking over she saw him, Adam, packing. 'Packing?' she thought, 'To go where.' As if feeling her eyes on him, he turned and made eye contact with her.  
  
"You're awake," he said solemnly as he opened the door to the room.  
  
She nodded, "Where are we?"  
  
His jaw flinched and his lips became a thin line, "Emma, I'm sorry I have to do this to you. You'll be briefed later." That was the last thing she heard when she felt the bee sting like pain on the pack of her neck.  
  
She was briefed, after months in a stabilized coma state. She was still Emma DeLauro, but not the Mutant X team member. She was Emma the small town girl, come to the big city with dreams. She had to keep up the charade in order to be safe. She was told the orders came straight from Adam.  
  
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"YOU WHAT?" the feral's eyes went yellow then back to normal, "Where?"  
  
"Well, I only saw her, I'm not even a hundred percent sure . . ." answered the fair haired member of Mutant X.  
  
"Where did you see her Jesse?!" asked Shalimar once more.  
  
"At the 53rd Street Coffee Shop."  
  
"We have to go contact Brennan." The feral was almost out the door as she gave the command.  
  
???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? Sorry for not updating sooner. I haven't been able to write. My muses went on vacation. Review please. 


	4. Chapter 4

Author's Note: So the last chapter was better, right? Good, because I tried improving. Anyway y'all try to enjoy.  
  
Brennan was finally ready to go back to Sanctuary. He had been sitting in his new black BMW, two-seater convertible for the past two hours. Everything had been so hectic lately, he mused running a hand through his dark hair. Adam and Emma were gone, dead, they weren't coming back, and he hadn't gotten used to that. The man who took him in two years prior was not going to be giving him some scientific mumble jumble for Emma to explain and then fade into the background to let him take charge. No, they were gone. She was gone.  
  
He had really respected her, cared for her even, but innocent Emma didn't deserve a man like him. 'And Shal did?' he asked himself. He rolled his eyes and went back to thoughts of a former member of Mutant X. She didn't need a street wise guy like him, she needed someone like Tyler. He had tried to keep her from falling for him, to stay safe and away from people like him, the guy who won't stay in one place too long, and ultimately leave her. He did leave, but not the way he had expected, he died for her. That's when Brennan definitely knew Emma could never be his.  
  
He leaned back in the driver's seat and turned the ignition and activated the com-link again receiving a voice, Jesse's, immediately, to come to the 53rd Street Café. Sighing he drove out of the old deserted parking lot of a club he used to inhabit. He always went there to think. He had been there everyday for months on end, Shalimar never knew he went there and Lexa hadn't found out any of his secrets yet before she left, leaving his broken hearted friend in her wake.  
  
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"Have you seen this woman?" Shalimar asked a man behind the counter of the 53rd Street Café. He was a little man, maybe only five feet six inches, and a little nervous with the blonde feral asking him questions in a rather harsh tone. "Well, have you seen her?"  
  
The little man nodded, "Her name's Emma DeLauro. She, uh, just left. Her shift was over."  
  
"Where did she go?" she leaned over the counter just slightly before the bell sounded when the door opened. Her head snapped up as she watched Brennan's tall, broad shouldered form enter the café. "Shal . . . what's up?" he inquired of he team member.  
  
She held up the picture, the last picture taken, of Emma. His lips thinned and he cast a look to Jesse for an explanation. "We found Emma."  
  
"What do you what with the girl? She's a good kid," the little man spoke up.  
  
"I want to know where she is," Brennan approached the man, "Now."  
  
"She went home, I guess," the man became a little intimidated by man in front of him.  
  
"And where exactly is that?"  
  
The little man shrugged, "She likes to keep to herself."  
  
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I know the chapter is still a little short, but the point is I updated. Review please. 


	5. Chapter 5

She could only feel that. It was only an urge suggested through a device, but she could feel. Namely, because it was made for only her to use. Otherwise Emma wouldn't be safe, safe to talk to him.  
  
She hastily fumbled for the small, silver device that looked hardly any different than any other cell phone, to the naked eye. It was the only direct link between the two, Adam and Emma. "Adam," she answered in a sigh of relief.  
  
A few seconds passed in silence before Adam's agitated voice answered back, "Emma, there's a problem." His words vague and the emotion of fear were laced in his voice as well as the feeling Emma kept receiving.  
  
"What? Are the others okay?" Her throat clenched as she sat down to prepare herself for horrible news.  
  
"It's not Mutant X we have to worry about, Emma." His voice was dry as he tried to break the news to her, "You need to leave, get away from your apartment. The others have found out where you are and are being followed by Eckhart' s."  
  
"Well, then I need to go and help them, Adam. It's not their fight, it's ours," she raised her voice a little.  
  
"No," his voice boomed, "It was never 'our' fight, it was my fight I let you get dragged into. And now, I'm trying to keep you safe."  
  
"Adam," she pleaded, "They're our friends. If I don't help them who will?"  
  
"Listen to me. Get out of there in an hours time and contact me when you get to another city."  
  
"But—" she tried to plead.  
  
"Emma, just do it, please. I promise, one day Mutant X will be reunited. Just get out of there before you get hurt." A fatherly tone took over his words.  
  
"All right," she sighed, she knew she couldn't win the argument, "I'll contact you I an hour."  
  
"Good girl, bye," he hung up leaving her by herself in the silence of her sparsely decorated apartment, only possessing the things she needed, a couch, bathroom, bathroom products, small television in the small kitchen, and a coffee table. This was her new home, where was she going to go now?  
  
She reached to grab a suitcase from under the couch when she heard a growl.  
  
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"Is this it, Shal," asked Brennan as he nervously played with electricity in his hand looking up at a tall building that apparently used to be a warehouse. They needed to find her, to keep out of harm again.  
  
She eyed Brennan as he asked, his jawed had clenched and he returned to his nervous habit. "Yeah," she breathed, she truly missed that absent member of the team, but her memory had taken Brennan away from her. "She should be on the top floor," her blonde locks blew with the breeze.  
  
Brennan started forward to the entrance of the building when an arm stopped him. "We can't just surprise her like this," stated Jesse stepping in front of him, "What if she doesn't even remember us?"  
  
Anger flashed across Brennan's face, "You can do whatever the hell you want to but I'm going in." His words were hardly louder than a whisper.  
  
"Jess, let him go in if he wants," Shalimar couldn't deal with bickering at this moment she needed to know that Emma really was alive. She took the lead and passed through the entrance followed closely by Brennan and then Jesse. They were all silent, all nervous, all excited. Emotions raced through them each one bringing another along.  
  
"Shal, after this –" Brennan said in a low voice as they neared the top of the stairs.  
  
"Hush," she cut off. She heard a growl and a smelled a familiar scent. It took her a split second to kick down the door exposing a young brunette woman being pounced on by a feral. And it wasn't the usual damsel in distress, it was –.  
  
"Emma," yelled Brennan racing in and electrocuting the mutant and watched it fall unconscious. He rushed to her side and pushed the feral off of her. "Emma, are you all right."  
  
She felt the scratch on her face and pushed past him to get to the tiny kitchen retrieving a wet towel.  
  
"Emma," Jesse ventured in.  
  
She spun around with such fury in her eyes that the three of her friend stepped back. "What do you think you're doing here!" she screamed.  
  
"Em, we came to take you back to sanctuary," explained Shalimar moving closer to her.  
  
"Did I ask you to do that? Don't you think there might be a reason I haven't been back? Huh?" pain was gripping at her, not her own emotion but the others. She had to fight to keep tears out of her eyes. "I had everything taken care of. I didn't need you."  
  
"That guy would have killed you," Brennan pointed at the lump on the ground.  
  
"I would have dealt with him. I didn't need you." Worry began to grip at her. she couldn't fight with them anymore. Tears began streaming down her face as she embraced Shalimar, "I'm so sorry," she whispered.  
  
"I know," the blonde pushed stray strands of hair out of the telempath's face.  
  
"But you don't understand," as she said it she sent a small psionic blast to Brennan and Jesse and backed away from her friend, "Shal, I have to go," and sent one more at Shalimar before running out of her apartment.  
  
A/n* This is not the end. So be sure and review, Okay? I need all the help I can get especially when this is an out of the blue chapter that totally went a different way than planned. 


	6. Chapter 6

Shalimar sat next to the tranquility pond, she sat in the same spot where Emma had sat many times. "Does she hate us that much?" she questioned to no one in particular. Three days, just a mere three days ago, Emma had run away from them, from her family.  
  
"It's not your fault, Shal," Jesse sat beside her, "You have to stop beating yourself up." He put an arm around her, "If it's anyone's fault it's mine. The first time I saw her I should've gone after her."  
  
Tears began to trickle softly down her face, "Jess, I miss her."  
  
"I know," he pulled her closer; "I do, too." Past feelings began to weave their way into his head as he comforted Shalimar, feelings that the sight of Emma had reawakened. In the midst of a stroke through Shalimar's blonde curls the alarm to the sanctuary went off. There was an intruder.  
  
Shalimar jumped up and ran, Jesse followed in a close second. And there, standing before them in muddy close hugging herself to keep warm was the psionic that just days before had bolted from them.  
  
Their jaws dropped.  
  
"Happy to see me," she cracked a weak smile before calapsing on the floor.  
  
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Sorry it's such a short chapter, but I thought since it has been a while since I updated I ought to just update my work so far. 


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